“Caperat hic cantus _Minyas_ mulcere, nec ullus
Præteriturus erat Sirenum tristia fata
Iam manibus remi exciderant stetit uncta carina.”
ORPHEUS: _Argonauticis_.
[Virgil had a pupil named Minuzzolo, who was very small indeed, but a
very beautiful youth, and the great master was very fond of his
disciple.]
They undertook a long journey round the world, since Virgil wished that
his little Minuzzolo should learn all the wonders which are hidden in the
earth.
So he said to him one day:
“Know, Minuzzolo, that we are going on a long journey which may last for
years, and thou must be right brave, my boy, for many are the perils
through which we must pass, and dire are the monsters which we shall
meet.”
So they went forth into the world, far and wide, and little Minuzzolo
showed himself as brave as the biggest, and as eager to learn as a whole
school with a holiday before it when it shall have got its lesson.
All things he learned: how to resist all sorceries and evil spells; he
could call the eagle down from the sky, and the fish from the sea; but
one thing he did not learn from his master.
One day Virgil gave him a book wherein was the charm against the Song of
the Siren, the words which protect him who knows them against the music
of the Voice. But two leaves stuck together like one, so that Minuzzolo
skipped two pages, and never knew it.
Virgil had gone forth, and Minuzzolo, seated in a hut in the forest where
they lived, began to sing. Then he heard in the wood a girl’s voice,
which seemed to come from a torrent, singing in answer; and it was so
sweet that all his soul and senses were captured, he forgot all duty and
desire, his master and everything, all in a mad yearning to follow the
sound. So he went on and on, led by the song; day and night were
unnoticed by him. The Voice went with the torrent, he followed it to a
river, and the river to the sea, where the waves rolled high in foam and
fog; he followed the song, it went deep into the sea, but he gave no
heed, but went ever on.
Then he found himself in a very beautiful but extremely strange old
city—a city like a dream of an ancient age. And as eve came on, the
youth asked of this and that person where he could pass the night, and
all said that they knew of no place, for into that city no strangers ever
came. However, at last one said to him: “I know where there dwells a
witch, and she often hath strange guests; perhaps she will give thee
shelter.”
“I will go to her,” replied Minuzzolo.
“Better not,” was the reply. “I did but jest, and I would be sorry if so
fair a youth should be devoured by some monster.” {34}
“Little fear of that have I,” replied the young magician. “He who has
harmed no one need fear none, and in the name of my Master I am safe.”
So he went to the house and knocked, and there came to his call an old
woman of such unearthly ugliness, that Minuzzolo saw at once that she was
a sorceress. So when she asked what he wanted, he replied:
“In the name of him whom all
Like thee obey, and heed his call,
And tremble at his lightest word,
VIRGIL, my master and thy lord,
I bid thee give me food and rest,
Whate’er thou canst and of the best!”
And she answered:
“Whate’er is asked in that dread name,
I’m sworn to answer to the same.”
So the youth stayed there and was well served. And in the morning he
thanked the old woman, and asked her where he could find Virgil. She
replied:
“Do not seek him in the forest where thou didst leave him. Since then
thou hast passed over half the world, for she who called thee was a
Siren, whom none can resist unless they learn the spell which thy master,
foreseeing that thou wert in danger, gave thee, and which thou didst not
learn. However, I will give thee a ring which will be of use, but do not
seek its help until thou shalt be in dire need. And then thou shalt say
to it:
“‘In nome del gran Mago,
In nome di Virgilio,
A chi sara buono!
Questo anello sara mia sposa!’”
“In the name of the great magician!
In the name of Virgil!
To whom be all good,
This ring shall be my spouse!”
“Well shall I remember it,” replied Minuzzolo. So he went on to the land
and by the strand ever on, till he came to a great and fine ship, and
pausing as he looked at it, he thought he would like to be a sailor.
Therefore he asked the captain if a boy was wanted. And the captain,
being much pleased, took him and treated him very kindly, and for three
years Minuzzolo was a mariner.
But one night there was a great storm, and there came in an instant such
a tremendous wave and gale of wind that Minuzzolo was blown afar into the
sea and wafted away a mile ere he was missed. However, he gained a beach
and scrambled ashore, where he lay for a long time as if asleep. Yet it
seemed to him, while thinking of the captain and his mates, that he were
being borne away and ever on, as if in a dream, and indeed, when he
awoke, he found himself in what he knew must be another country, in
another clime.
And being very hungry, and seeing a fine garden wherein delicious fruit
was growing, he approached a tree to pluck a pear; when all at once there
sprang out a man of terrible form, with eyes like a dragon, who
threatened him with death.
But Minuzzolo drew the ring from his pocket and repeated the charm, and
as he did this the sorcerer fell dead. And then he heard the voice of
the Siren singing afar, and it drew nearer and nearer, till a beautiful
girl appeared. And when she saw the hideous sorcerer lying dead, she
exclaimed with joy: “At last I am free! This the great Master Virgilio
has done; over land and sea and afar off he has put forth his power.
Blessed be his name!”
Then she explained to the youth that she and others had been enslaved and
enchanted, and compelled to become a Siren and bewitch men. But
Virgilio, knowing that she was lurking near to charm his pupil, had given
him the book to read, but that her master by his power had closed the
leaves, so that Minuzzolo had yielded to her song. But Virgilio had put
forth a greater power, and brought it to pass that the Siren was herself
enchanted with love, and in the end the sorcerer was defeated.
Then Virgilio appeared and blessed the young couple, who were wedded and
lived ever after happily. Such things did Virgilio.
* * * * *
This strange story, in which classic traditions are blended with the
common form of a fairy-tale, was sent to me from Siena, where it had been
taken down from some authority to me unknown. It begins very abruptly,
for which reason I have supplied the introductory passage in parenthesis.
Minuzzolo, led strangely afar over the sea, drawn by the voice of the
Siren, suggests that the Argonauts were called _Minii_, because they were
descended, like Jason, from the daughters of _Minia_. There may be here
some confusion with Minos, of whom Virgil says that “he holds in his hand
an urn and shakes the destiny of all human beings, citing them to appear
before his tribunal,” “Quæsitor Minos urnam movet.” In the Italian
legend Minuzzolo, or Minos, has a ring which compels all who hear his
charm to obey.
Minuzzolo wins his Siren by means of a ring, and it is remarkable that
Hesychius derives the name _Siren_ from _σεἰρη_, _seire_, a small ring.
Moreover, the sirens in the old Greek mythology did not of their own
accord or will entice sailors to death. “The oracle,” says Pozzoli
(Dizionario Mit.) “had predicted that they should perish whenever a
single mortal who had heard their enchanting voices should escape them.”
Therefore they were compelled by a superior power to act as they did.
Confused and garbled as it all is, it seems almost certain that in this
tale there are relics of old Græco-Latin mythology.
The names of the three Sirens were Aglaope, Pisinoe, Thexiopia; according
to Cherilus, Thelxiope, Molpe and Aglaophonos. _Clearchus_, however,
gives one as Leucosia, another as Ligea, the third as Parthenope.
“Aglaope was sweetest to behold, Aglaophone had the most enchanting
voice.” Therefore we may infer that Aglaope, or Aglaophone, was the
heroine of this tale. It is remarkable that _Aglaia_, a daughter of
Jupiter, was the fairest and first of the three Muses, as Aglaope was of
the Sirens.
It would seem evident that Edgar A. Poe had the Siren Ligea in mind when
he wrote:
“Ligeia, Ligeia,
My beautiful one,
Whose harshest idea
Will to melody run . . .
Ligeia! wherever
Thy image may be,
No magic shall sever
Thy music from thee;
Thou hast bound many eyes
In a dreamy sleep,
But the strains still arise
Which thy vigilance keep.”
Most remarkable of all is the fact that the Sirens, who were regarded as
evil witches or enchantresses of old, are in this story, which was
written by a witch, indicated as women compelled by fate to delude
mariners, which has escaped all commentators, and yet was plainly enough
declared by the Oracle.